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So, we wound up sleeping in again... After breakfast, we had a very short session then scattered for the day. Marion, Sue, and Sue need to leave before breakfast on Sunday, so we plan to say goodbyes to them tonight.
I checked email again - they had a community computer available with a cup next to it for donations to the Internet gods. Suggested donation was four euros per hour. Then I walked around the farmhouse for a while again. Carl was doing a final load of laundry for this location - just the items that would dry overnight.
The photo on the left above was taken in our room at Il Rigo. We had bought some fruit at the local grocery store and stored them in the old fashioned wash basin in our room. The center photo is a still life of wine bottle, grappa, and hyacinths on the bar of the wine room. The photo on the right above is a vase of roses found on the table of the wine room. The flowers were all picked at Il Rigo.
The photo on the left above is of a stuffed bear and candles that I found on one of the book shelves of the wine room at Il Rigo. The photo in the center is finding patterns in the wine bottles stored in the cabinet just off the wine room. The photo on the right above is a patch of sedum (also known here in Tennessee as "hen and chicks") found on the grounds of Il Rigo.
In my wanderings, I discovered a pond back behind the toolshed that was filled with water lilies! The countryside here is bone dry, yet here's a lily pond with a chorus of frogs and a bunch of dragonflies. I took Carl back there later and we quietly watched one of the farm cats catch (and eat) a dragonfly. She tried for a frog, too, but it got away.
The three photos above were taken at the pond.
The photo on the right above is some of the red clover that we found all over this region of Italy. The photos on the left above are of sedum and ice plants, found in the gardens of Il Rigo.
We had a very slow, relaxing day. After the hustle and bustle of Rome and the running around in Tuscany, we just ran out of steam and stayed close to the farm house all day. Lunch consisted of a pear out on the patio. I planned out tomorrow's route to Florence and Carl napped a while. Then I took my book into one of the common rooms and read for a while. It was a very relaxing day.
Before dinner, we walked down the road near the farm house, more to stretch our legs a bit than anything else. Of course, the camera came along...
The photo on the left above shows the road to Pienza. The remaining two photographs show some of the many bicyclists we encountered during our stay in Tuscany. Elsewhere in Tuscany this weekend, the Giro d'Italia (the Italian equivalent of the Tour de France bike race) was going on, which attracted a large number of bicyclists to the region.
This photo is of one of the climbing roses that were climbing up the walls of Il Rigo.
After our walk, we sat on the interior patio with glasses of the house wine and just enjoyed the evening weather. It was good wine.
Then inside for our last dinner together. It was a good dinner. Can't remember what we had, but it was delicious! We both wound up drinking a little too much wine, but we weren't driving, so... After dinner, we said our goodbyes to the Sues and to Marion, then crashed for the night.